Commentary
DC voucher program saga turns into DC rights issue
As Andy reported last Friday, the DC Council has sent a letter to Secretary Duncan urging him to reconsider the fate of the DC Opportunity Scholarship program.
Commentary
Is education really the exception?
The unemployment rate dipped last month…[e]xcept the employer doing almost all of the hiring was…the government…That’s part of the point that David Brooks was m
Commentary
Michelle defends herself?
The lady with a mission has a soft side. This morning's Washington Post featured an editorial from DC Chancellor of Schools herself. I couldn't help but hear a sharply defensive tone throughout and be somewhat mystified by the whole thing.
Commentary
Of tertiary education graduation rates
The recent NCLB regulations focus on high school graduation rates. Mark Schneider (as in former Bushie and now at AIR Mark Schneider), however, wants to know the stats on college graduation rates.
Commentary
Open source education
You can find whatever your heart desires on the internet, and that’s in part thanks to something called open source. It’s a bit of an amorphous term, but that hasn’t stopped this Utah virtual charter school from diving in to this potentially revolutionizing movement. Open source is just as its name implies--open.
Commentary
Re: supplant or supplement?
As Eric just reported, Loudoun County is playing games with its stimulus dollars. Specifically, it's asking schools to return county dollars and replacing them with federal dollars, presumably to help plug holes in other areas of the county's budget.
Commentary
Jay is from Mars, Stafford is from Venus
"...Wow, Jay, stereotype much? After we get a good chuckle from imagining General Patton reading to some wee babes on his knees, let's talk about how Mathews has illuminated an actual problem: most teachers really are women...." Read it here.
Commentary
Rhee inspires reforms in South Korea
"'We Need Someone Like Michelle Rhee' proclaims an editorial headline in the South Korean newspaper Chosun Ilbo...." Read it here.
Commentary
Education Change Agent: Alex Johnston, CEO, ConnCAN
Alex Johnston is Chief Executive Officer of the Connecticut Coalition for Achievement Now (ConnCAN). As ConnCAN's first employee, Alex launched what is now regarded as one of the nation's leading state-level education reform organizations.
Commentary
Education Change Agent: Bill Jackson, Founder and CEO GreatSchools
Bill Jackson is the founder and CEO of GreatSchools, an independent, nonprofit organization that improves education by inspiring parents to get involved. GreatSchools provides parents with information and tools so they can choose the best school for their children, support their children's education, and improve schools in their communities.
Commentary
Gadflyette unmasked
For those of you who pegged me as the Nasonex bee, Charlotte the spider, or Gregor Samsa, what can I say? You were a tad off. Flyspecking is written by Checker's aunt's cousin's pet tarantula, who happens to be a ninth year PhD student in the social commentary department at the University of Entomology.
Commentary
Big dogs and little dogs alike give their 2 cents on RTTT criteria
Education Week posted a blog recently with a link to the slew of comments offered up by folks in response the U.S.
Commentary
Bunk bed blues and international teacher recruitment
I am in no way keen on the “research” produced by the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) but I have to admit that they have raised an important issue in their latest report that merits attention--that is, if you can stomach the rhetoric it’s clothed in.
Commentary
Hard road to hoe
There's a lot of political lip-service of late given to ridding schools of bad teachers. But be aware if you're looking to do so in Dallas.
Commentary
Not another education committee...
I had the pleasure of attending Fordham-Ohio’s conference on standards on Monday.
Commentary
Processing those payouts
I just heaved a big sigh reading Jay Mathews headline today: "Merit Pay Could Ruin Teacher Teamwork." As a former evaluator of a Teacher Incentive Fund state program, I spent quite a bit of time researching PBPs, including how th
Commentary
Tragically not so different after all
Educators, researchers, and policy types around the world admire (and envy) Finland's students, who repeatedly demonstrate remarkable academic prowess on international assessments.
Commentary
A generation of ahistorical (but devout) morons?
Visiting the LBJ Ranch in the Texas hill country this weekend, our ad hoc tour group included a gaggle of high-school students from "south of Houston." They generally seemed pleasant, self-conscious, goofy and teenager-ish.
Commentary
Appalled twice over
Yes, indeed, there are rifts nowadays, rifts almost as wide as the Great Rift Valley within both political parties when it comes to education policy, particularly at the national level. That's probably necessary, as both parties go through some soul-searching and repurposing.
Commentary
Arne Duncan's planned speech shows Obama administration slowly wading into NCLB
Eight months into the Obama administration, the White House has been mute on its intentions regarding the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) act, George W.
Commentary
Carey embraces government waste, featherbedding, swelling debt
At “The Quick and the Ed,” Kevin Carey has offered an intriguing if somewhat peculiar response to my and Rick Hess’s piece in the Education G
Commentary
Chinese influence in U.S. schools
How do you feel about the government of China paying for American public schools to teach our kids Mandarin? And sending teachers from China to the U.S.
Commentary
Chinese influence in U.S. schools
How do you feel about the government of China paying for American public schools to teach our kids Mandarin? And sending teachers from China to the U.S.
Commentary
Denial vs. paranoia with Common Core education standards
I deny that I’m in denial. But I don’t deny that Neal McCluskey is paranoid, along with Jay Greene and a few other ardent blogsters and op-edsters.
Commentary
Elegy on a lost cause
Ever since The Education Gadfly critically reviewed NYC Schools Under Bloomberg and Klein: What Parents, Teachers, and Policymakers Need to Know, we've been bombarded with messages from aggrieved contributors and editors of that 172-page volume (which you can find
Commentary
Fordham comments on the Common Core State Standards
The public draft of the Common Core State Standards is considerably improved from the version that was circulated two months back and it’s evident that the drafters are trying to incorporate responsible feedback. I trust they will continue to.
Commentary
I don't mind a few bee stings
Bees really dislike having their hive disturbed and that's obviously true of universal-pre-school advocates, too. The Pew-backed advocacy squad has picked Steve Barnett of the National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER) as their designated hit-man to go after me and my new book.
Commentary
Not sharp at all
"A lot of normally smart and generally sincere people have just made the dreadful blunder of affiliating themselves with Al Sharpton, one of America's more unlovable figures, whose fingerprints can be found on an appalling list of divisive, racist, anti-Semitic, violent, and often bloody episodes over the past quarter century...." Read it
Commentary
Ted Kennedy, R.I.P.
More than anyone else who comes to mind in American public life, Edward M. Kennedy ascended from reprobate to icon, from an object of criticism, even ridicule, to statesman. He made many lasting marks on our policies and politics and just about everyone came to admire and like him. Generations of devoted and able staffers.
Commentary
Unschooling: the worst education idea...ever?
The worst education idea of the year turns out not to be a new idea at all. "Unschooling" has roots in Rousseau, in Summerhill, in John Holt and Ivan Illich and any number of other progressive/romantic/libertarian nihilists.